SHOW NOTES
Who Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?
Causation of evil and violence in the Old Testament
We have many passages that suggest that the LORD is the cause of catastrophes. Deuteronomy 29:21–23; 32:39-43 and Leviticus 26:27-35 and Isaiah 45:7 are some passages which reveal God to the Israelites as the agent of both life and death. In turn the Israelites expect the LORD to deal with their enemies violently (Psalm 58:6-11; 137:9). The point that the creation account is the only non-violent creation story we have seems to have been lost on the Hebrews.
1 Samuel 16:14, 23 describes the LORD sending an evil or tormenting spirit to fill king Saul with fear and yet 1 John 4:18 asserts that love removes all fear, and furthermore that God is love.
Exodus 4:24-26 has the LORD attempting to kill Moses on the way to Egypt even though the LORD had sent him to Egypt. This is a puzzling story if the agency of evil is attributed to the LORD as Moses does.
Translators are confused about the character of God even in the New Testament. Who is the “he” in Matthew 10:28? Who can destroy the soul in hell? Some translators replace “he” with “God” indicating their bias. John 1:18 indicates that Jesus is the only eyewitness of God and thus is the best authority on the character of God. Matthew 17:1-5, John 1:17; 10:10; 14:4-11 and Hebrews 1:1-3 confirm the primacy of the witness of Jesus. There are other inspired prophetic voices but none can equal or match the authority of Jesus Christ.
Jesus sets the record straight in Matthew 5:38-39 and 5:43-47. 1 John 1:5 is dogmatic. God is light (life) and there is no darkness (death or deceit) in him.